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Oscar Wilde Quotes

1854–1900

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish dramatist, essayist, novelist and poet.

Also known as: Oscar Wild, Wilde, Wilde, Oscar, The Nightingale and the Rose

Random Oscar Wilde quote

353 quotes

I have said to you to speak the truth is a painful thing. To be forced to tell lies is much worse.

De Profundis (1897)

Ah! somehow life is bigger after all
Than any painted angel could we see
The God that is within us!

'Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)

Friendship is far more tragic than love. It lasts longer.

A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)

To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist – the problem is so entirely the same in both cases. To know exactly how much oil one must put with one's vinegar.

Vera; or, The Nihilists (1880)

When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens, there still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?

De Profundis (1897)

It is always painful to part from people whom one has known for a very brief space of time. The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity. But even a momentary separation from anyone to whom one has just been introduced is almost unbearable.

The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats,
None knew so well as I:
For he who lives more lives than one
More deaths than one must die.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)

One is tempted to define man as a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.

The Critic as Artist (1891)

I drink to separate my body from my soul.”

Punctuality is the thief of time.

It is sweet to dance to violins
When Love and Life are fair:
To dance to flutes, to dance to lutes
Is delicate and rare:
But it is not sweet with nimble feet
To dance upon the air!

The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

Lo! with a little rod
I did but touch the honey of romance —
And must I lose a soul's inheritance?

Poems (1881)

Meredith is a prose Browning, and so is Browning. He used poetry as a medium for writing in prose.

The Critic as Artist (1891)

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.

The Decay of Lying (1889)

Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.

Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894)

All authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise it, and degrades those over whom it is exercised.

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)

It is well for his peace that the saint goes to his martyrdom. He is spared the sight of the horror of his harvest.

The Critic as Artist (1891)

The only link between Literature and the Drama left to us in England at the present moment is the bill of the play.

A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Oscar Wilde (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.